This invention relates generally to aquariums for tropical fish and more particularly to a method and apparatus for monitoring the level of organic material in the aquarium.
A typical fish tank 100 including a supply of water 110 is shown in FIG. 1. Organic material is introduced to water 110 of tank 100 from fish food, fish waste, decaying plant material, and other sources. Organic material is commonly removed from water 110 through the use of a filter 120 containing a layer of activated charcoal granules 125.
Filter 120 physically entraps the organic material within pores of charcoal granules 125. However, it is impractical for the typical hobbyist to determine whether charcoal 125 in filter 120 has lost sufficient activity to reduce organic material in aquarium water 110 to a suitable level. Consequently, hobbyists typically change the charcoal in their filters at periodic intervals or change the water.
Notwithstanding, there has been a need for the typical hobbyist to determine whether the water or charcoal should be changed more frequently, whether suitably active charcoal is being discarded prematurely, whether there are too many fish in the tank or whether the fish are being overfed.
There are various test kits available to the aquarium hobbyist for obtaining information about the condition of the water in a fish tank. Some kits provide information about the ammonia level, others measure nitrogen levels and still others determine the pH level of water in the tank. While knowing each of these conditions is important for maintaining the proper environment for fish in a tank, this alone is not satisfactory for maintaining a suitable environment for fish.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for overcoming the deficiencies of the prior art.